Yes, the Raspberry Pi will run Minecraft

"Minecraft: Pi Edition" coming soon, will be a free download.

The people who built the Raspberry Pi say there's a question they're asked almost every single day—does it run Minecraft?

The answer for most of the Pi's history was no, not yet. But now the answer is yes—and you'll be able to download it soon, for free. It won't be an exact replica of the Minecraft game PC users are familiar with. Instead, it will be a port of Minecraft: Pocket Edition for Android and iOS called Minecraft: Pi Edition.

"It’ll carry a revised feature set and support for several programming languages, so you can code direct into Minecraft before you start playing. (Or you can just—you know—play.)," Raspberry Pi community manager Liz Upton wrote in the announcement.

Free is a good deal, especially as Minecraft: Pocket Edition costs $6.99. Plus, the Raspberry Pi itself only costs about $35. The little computers have been somewhat difficult to acquire because of demand outstripping supply, but a bunch of them were sent to Minecraft creator Markus Persson and the developers at Mojang to work on the port.

With Minecraft on the Pi, "the possibilities are massive," according to a quote attributed to Owen Hill and Daniel Kaplan of Mojang. "You could organise the cheapest LAN party of all time, or use the Pi to learn the fundamentals of programming on a minuscule budget. It’s like hacking your way into Minecraft and modifying the game world with code, a bit like being Notch, Jeb, or Nathan, but arguably more fun and less stressful."

The unveiling of Minecraft: Pi Edition was over the weekend at Minecon in Paris. Exactly when the free download will become available isn't known, but Upton says "we hope [it] will be very soon."

Interesting question: how long until (via Moore's law) a $35 computer can run Crysis? We'll say a $1000 computer can run it at max settings today. If the cost of an equivalent computer drops by half every 18 months (I know, kind of a bastardization of the law, but the best I care to do), then we should have Crysis on a pi-equivalent by 2019 or so.

Interesting question: how long until (via Moore's law) a $35 computer can run Crysis? We'll say a $1000 computer can run it at max settings today. If the cost of an equivalent computer drops by half every 18 months (I know, kind of a bastardization of the law, but the best I care to do), then we should have Crysis on a pi-equivalent by 2019 or so.

With the rate those mobile SOCs are getting graphics upgrades, I wouldn't be surprised if that prediction turns out to be true.

Interesting question: how long until (via Moore's law) a $35 computer can run Crysis? We'll say a $1000 computer can run it at max settings today. If the cost of an equivalent computer drops by half every 18 months (I know, kind of a bastardization of the law, but the best I care to do), then we should have Crysis on a pi-equivalent by 2019 or so.

With the rate those mobile SOCs are getting graphics upgrades, I wouldn't be surprised if that prediction turns out to be true.

It's not the CPU that is the stopper for Crysis, it's the GPGPU. you would need a decent, non-mobile version of the GPU, and that is what will take up space.

Interesting question: how long until (via Moore's law) a $35 computer can run Crysis? We'll say a $1000 computer can run it at max settings today. If the cost of an equivalent computer drops by half every 18 months (I know, kind of a bastardization of the law, but the best I care to do), then we should have Crysis on a pi-equivalent by 2019 or so.

With the rate those mobile SOCs are getting graphics upgrades, I wouldn't be surprised if that prediction turns out to be true.

It's not the CPU that is the stopper for Crysis, it's the GPGPU. you would need a decent, non-mobile version of the GPU, and that is what will take up space.

SoC IS GPU! (and CPU, and broadband, and whatever Chip OEM care to through in to the mix)

Interesting question: how long until (via Moore's law) a $35 computer can run Crysis? We'll say a $1000 computer can run it at max settings today. If the cost of an equivalent computer drops by half every 18 months (I know, kind of a bastardization of the law, but the best I care to do), then we should have Crysis on a pi-equivalent by 2019 or so.

It's not the CPU that is the stopper for Crysis, it's the GPGPU. you would need a decent, non-mobile version of the GPU, and that is what will take up space.

In 2019, integrated graphics may have the power of today's dedicated GPU.

Minecraft PE works fairly well on my dual-core 1.2GHz Samsung Galaxy SII with quad-core ARM Mali 400 graphics, but how well will it work on a far slower single core 1GHz ARM11 with it's VideoCore graphics?

I like the idea of being programmable though - bring that to the desktop version!

Interesting question: how long until (via Moore's law) a $35 computer can run Crysis? We'll say a $1000 computer can run it at max settings today. If the cost of an equivalent computer drops by half every 18 months (I know, kind of a bastardization of the law, but the best I care to do), then we should have Crysis on a pi-equivalent by 2019 or so.

With the rate those mobile SOCs are getting graphics upgrades, I wouldn't be surprised if that prediction turns out to be true.

It's not the CPU that is the stopper for Crysis, it's the GPGPU. you would need a decent, non-mobile version of the GPU, and that is what will take up space.

I think some people are forgetting you can buy secondhand but perfectly functional PCs for less than $35 that comfortably blow the Pi into the weeds. In fact I give away PCs ten times as powerful as a Pi because they're obsolete and nobody wants to buy them. I'm a big fan of the Pi and what they're aiming for but, c'mon, there is some reality to be checked.

I think some people are forgetting you can buy secondhand but perfectly functional PCs for less than $35 that comfortably blow the Pi into the weeds. In fact I give away PCs ten times as powerful as a Pi because they're obsolete and nobody wants to buy them. I'm a big fan of the Pi and what they're aiming for but, c'mon, there is some reality to be checked.

Cas

Comparing a P4 for the local thrift shop with a Raspberry Pi is apples to oranges my friend. Even if you match them on price you cannot match them on power usage and size. Two things that distinctly lend themselves to unique and interesting applications of the Pi instead of repurposed ATX style machines from yesteryear.

Interesting question: how long until (via Moore's law) a $35 computer can run Crysis? We'll say a $1000 computer can run it at max settings today. If the cost of an equivalent computer drops by half every 18 months (I know, kind of a bastardization of the law, but the best I care to do), then we should have Crysis on a pi-equivalent by 2019 or so.

It's not the CPU that is the stopper for Crysis, it's the GPGPU. you would need a decent, non-mobile version of the GPU, and that is what will take up space.

In 2019, integrated graphics may have the power of today's dedicated GPU.

To add to this.

GPUs have been *over* doubling performance every 18 months and dramatically reducing power. Over an approximate 5 year span, nVidia was able to increase performance by 16x and reduce power-consumption per flop by 8x. That was about 3 years ago when nVidia announced that.

That was about a 2.5x increase in performance and about a 60% reduction in power per flop every 18 months.

I think some people are forgetting you can buy secondhand but perfectly functional PCs for less than $35 that comfortably blow the Pi into the weeds. In fact I give away PCs ten times as powerful as a Pi because they're obsolete and nobody wants to buy them. I'm a big fan of the Pi and what they're aiming for but, c'mon, there is some reality to be checked.

Cas

Comparing a P4 for the local thrift shop with a Raspberry Pi is apples to oranges my friend. Even if you match them on price you cannot match them on power usage and size. Two things that distinctly lend themselves to unique and interesting applications of the Pi instead of repurposed ATX style machines from yesteryear.

I'm picturing someone's Lego Mind Storms creation lugging around an ATX tower strapped to its back as a control processor, hunchback of notre dame-style.

Honestly id rather have a cli-based psx or a modestly more polished version of the current psx than MC or nethack or DF on a PI, those are games i think most people play on their pcs/laptops when we are supposed to be doing real work but feel like procrastinating instead.

OK, but why????? You know, there already is a cheap general purpose device where you can tinker and learn programming with significant ease. It is called ... gasp... a PC!

You know someplace we can buy a PC for $35?

Riiiight. Because the cost of the PC is what is preventing people from programming. You can't even use the Pi without already owning a PC. Don't let reality bother you...

Farnel sells SD cards with the Pi OS pre-installed. You don't need a computer to set one up any more

thesorehead wrote:

While making MC playable on Pi is cool, TBH I'd rather be able to run a MC server on the Pi. Or can you already do that?

Isn't the standard Minecraft jar file what you use to run the server as well? If so, depends whether Minecraft PE supports this, would be surprised if they didn't implement it though

Jurrasic wrote:

Minecraft? bah. Wake me up when they port Terraria to the Pi.

Sadly Terraria is a PITA to get working on *any* linux box. It's built in .NET so has to be run through the Mono framework which... isn't simple. Seeing as development has ended on Terraria it's unlikely we'll see it released any time soon

Interesting question: how long until (via Moore's law) a $35 computer can run Crysis? We'll say a $1000 computer can run it at max settings today. If the cost of an equivalent computer drops by half every 18 months (I know, kind of a bastardization of the law, but the best I care to do), then we should have Crysis on a pi-equivalent by 2019 or so.

It's not the CPU that is the stopper for Crysis, it's the GPGPU. you would need a decent, non-mobile version of the GPU, and that is what will take up space.

In 2019, integrated graphics may have the power of today's dedicated GPU.

For: By some benchmarks, Apple and Samsung are *doubling* the power of their chips *every year*. So a $35 computer that can run Crysis at *less than max* settings might come quite sooner than you think.

Against: The Pi has no cover, no case, no display, no power lead, no battery, no advertising campaign, no mouse, no keyboard, no touchscreen, no storage. Just the bare circuit board + chips (not including storage) for an iPhone 4S or even an iphone 5 probably doesn't cost all that much more in bulk.

For: I haven't researched this but I'm gonna wave my hands and say for $35 you could probably buy a new graphics card that can sort-of-run Crysis *today*.

Minecraft PE works fairly well on my dual-core 1.2GHz Samsung Galaxy SII with quad-core ARM Mali 400 graphics, but how well will it work on a far slower single core 1GHz ARM11 with it's VideoCore graphics?

I like the idea of being programmable though - bring that to the desktop version!

What I want to see is scriptable blocks: allow users to attach scripts to any block in the game; this would open up some fantastic new worlds for creating new game variants and adventure maps.